Elliott Dear, Esquire — New York Bar, Admitted 2005, Good Standing

The word Esquire after a name on an Independent Dispute Resolution submission is a commitment, and the registration number printed beside it says exactly who made it. On every submission Claims Assassins files, both marks belong to Elliott Dear. He was admitted to the New York bar in 2005, his registration number is 4329546, and he is in good standing. Anyone can look that number up, which is the reason it is printed.

A Signature Is Not a Stamp

A lawyer’s signature is not a formality added at the bottom of a stack of paper. When Elliott Dear signs, he is saying that he has read the claim, the EOB, the operative note and the billed charges, and that the argument in the submission matches what those documents show. A figure in the submission came off a document in the file. A statement about the plan was checked against the plan. The signature puts his license behind each of those lines.

Reviewed, Then Signed

Nothing goes out under the Esquire that Elliott Dear has not reviewed himself. That is a slower way to work than a vendor pushing forms through a portal, and the slowness is deliberate: the reviewer on the other end is reading a legal document, so it is written and checked like one. A plastic and reconstructive surgeon, an emergency physician or an oral and maxillofacial surgeon gets the same attorney’s read on every claim.

What the Bar Number Answers For

New York State IDR is administered by the Department of Financial Services, and it applies to fully insured New York plans; a self-funded plan sits outside the state process. Sorting that correctly is part of what the bar number answers for. So is the benchmark: New York law names the FAIR Health 80th percentile, and the submission puts the billed charges against it plainly. The insurer on the other side knows it is dealing with an attorney who has signed his name to the record.

What It Asks of the Physician

The commitment runs from the attorney to the work, not from the physician to a contract. Elliott Dear has about twenty years of work in out-of-network physician billing and founded Claims Assassins in 2018. The fee is a 10% contingency on the improvement, with no upfront fee, no contracts and no onboarding, and the office keeps its own billing. A physician can send a single claim for a free review and hear Elliott Dear’s read of it before deciding anything.